This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Politics & Government

Arbor Park Tax Referendum May Not Tell The Whole Story

President of area tax assessors says local referendum questions' estimates of proposed tax increases are off by a factor of three due to wording in a state statute that does not require the full formula.

Tax-increase question on local ballots in April may not be what they seem—including the calculation for the Arbor Park School District 145 referendum, according to Ali ElSaffar, president of the Cook County Township Assessors' Association.

Arbor Park School District 145 voters will consider a 23 percent property tax increase on April 5.

Residents may believe that their property tax bill will increase $60 for every $100,000 of their home's assessed value. Actually, the increase will be $202.21, according to ElSaffar.

Find out what's happening in Oak Forestwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The number left out of the formula, said ElSaffar, is the state equalizer, which when missing provides an estimate that only represents as little as 30 percent of the actual increase.

ElSaffar, also the Oak Park Township assessor, said he was made aware of the language used on area ballot measures when .

Find out what's happening in Oak Forestwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"This happened in every referendum in the county, but we aren't blaming the taxing districts," ElSaffar said. "The problem is in the way the law firms hired to write the questions calculated them."

ElSaffar said the problem also stems from a 2006 state statute related to the wording of referendums, which does not specifically state the equalizer needs to be in the calculation.

While that may be the case, ElSaffar argues, it does say there must be an accurate estimate, which won't happen when the calculation is off by a factor of three (the current state equalizer is 3.3701).

Chapman and Cutler LLP developed the referendum question for Arbor Park 145.

“The wording is an interpretation of what the law is,” said Bremen Township Assessor Grace A. Bardusk. “A lot of these taxing bodies rely on their law firms, which did not include the equalizers. It was inadvertent [on the district's part], and I believe they are trying to rectify it.”

Bardusk and ElSaffar said that assessors are in no way taking a side on the ballot measures but want to make sure the increases are accurately represented.

“The best thing is that people can go out and vote for this,” said Bardusk. “People know the dollar amount, or close to it, and can give their voice to it.”

The proposed tax increase for those in Arbor Park would raise the rate from $2.65 to $3.25 per $100 of equalized assessed value. The district told Patch the boost would help combat a $1.1 million shortfall. It would generate $1.5 million in revenue, according to the district's Director of Business Operations Pat Fournier.

A statement on the district's website by Arbor Park Superintendent Allen J. Jebens Jr., reads, “Chapman and Cutler, who serve as bond counsel in more Illinois school district transactions than any other firm, maintains that barring changes to existing legislation, the law in question is being adhered to strictly and the ballot question is worded correctly. The bottom line is that a disagreement has developed between experts on several fronts as to how the current statute should be interpreted. As District 145 is not in the business of interpreting tax law, we followed the legal counsel of the firm retained to develop the referendum ballot question on our behalf.”

Pointing out the discrepancy, the statement goes on to read, “Chapman and Cutler calculates that a [60-cent] rate increase will result in an additional $60 per every $100,000 of fair market value, residents should know that the actual rate increase could be higher specifically because the current state equalizer of 3.3701 is not part of the equation.”

According to a calculation by ElSaffar that includes the equalizer, the actual increase per $100,000 of fair market value would be $202.21.

ElSaffar said he believes the law will change in the future, so districts won't have a referendum question different from the actual increase.

Multiple phone calls and an e-mail to Arbor Park's Business Operations department were not returned.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?